


Happiness is an extremely uneventful subject

by toughluckbuddy



Series: Strangeness & Charm [6]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anbu!Shino, Domestic, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-16 00:38:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19307104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toughluckbuddy/pseuds/toughluckbuddy
Summary: Gaara brought the tea set himself, careful and formal.





	Happiness is an extremely uneventful subject

**Author's Note:**

> For the rarepair bingo prompts: anbu - Shino - Gaara
> 
> Title from No Choir by Florence & the Machine

Gaara brought the tea set himself, careful and formal.

“Will your teammates wonder at your disappearance?” he asked.

“I cleared it with the Hokage,” Shino said and Gaara made a sound of acknowledgement. Kurenai had been utterly ruthless during their last round of negotiations, so much so that he had had to leave the room for a few minutes so as not to throw his glass of water in her face.

Shino had been standing next to her the whole time, watchful and expressionless, but he was here now and there was no need to talk about it.

Gaara handed him a cup of tea, their fingers touching briefly, and sat down next to him. They were still far away from each other, like each time they had spent too many weeks apart. “Are you enjoying Suna?”

Shino nodded. “The trip was long but Kiba handles the heat in amusing ways.”

Gaara wondered for a moment what it would be like to go on a mission with Temari and Kankuro again. Shino had never left his genin team, had become ANBU with them, following his former teacher into the Hokage’s office. That was loyalty. Devotion.

“I always forget how big this place is,” Shino said, and Gaara reflexively looked around his Kage’s quarters. They were too large for him, empty and quiet, and he disliked all the fancy furniture, down to the antique tea seat they were using right now.

Shino had a tidy little apartment in Konoha’s busiest street, and sturdy grey mugs Gaara liked to hold in both hands.

“I don’t spend a lot of time here,” Gaara said and Shino said “I know.” He had the beginning of a smile on his lips. He spread his legs on the couch a little bit, took a sip of tea.

“I finished that book you lent me,” Shino said. “It was really interesting.”

“I’m glad,” Gaara said. It had been a manual about gardening – they both disliked fiction. “I have a few more that could interest you I think.”

“I’ll look at them later,” Shino said. They finished their tea in silence. They were sitting close enough to each other for their thighs and shoulders to be touching. The last time they had seen each other had been in Konoha. Shino had had a deep cut on his cheek from his last mission, Gaara had been preoccupied by some of the Mizukage’s remarks and they had overslept, scrambling to get up and get dressed.

“I missed you quite a lot,” Shino said and Gaara put his head on his shoulder and closed his eyes with a sigh of contentment.


End file.
